Timeline 1900 – 2018

1997Oona Tamsyn King elected to Parliament

Oona King, is a former Labour politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow from 1997 to 2005.Born to a white Jewish mother and a black American father, she was the second female MP of black origin elected to the House of Commons after Diane Abbot.

In her maiden speech in 1997 - the first speech given by a newly elected MP - King referred to herself as ‘multi-ethnic’ and described the racial abuse she and her family had suffered as a child. She has spoken and written frequently on aspects of being from a mixed racial background, including identity, racism, adoption and terminology.